Court aims to improve data access with decisions online

In going digital, it was important to avoid eliminating parties without computer or email access or with low electronic skill levels. Photo / Thinkstock

The Environment Court is planning to put all its decisions online.

New principal judge Laurie Newhook, whose appointment was confirmed this month, said he hoped that this year decisions would be on the court's website www.justice.govt.nz/courts/environment.

"Ministry of Justice systems for the production of judgments have not coped very well in the past with the graphic attachments produced in our judgments. We attach a lot of those," he said.

But big software changes meant the system would be able to cope with those graphics and attachments and posting all decisions online would help many people, he said.

"It will benefit anyone researching issues in our area - lawyers, planners, developers, public interest groups and individuals," said the Auckland-based judge.

He has been acting principal judge for 2 years and is working on plans for the court, many in the digital sphere.

"We live in an electronic age. Early last year, three divisions of my court trialled iPads in conducting the hearing of some large cases. That was a tremendous success," he says, showing a floor-to-ceiling cupboard in his chambers packed with folders and documents relating to just one case he heard, the Waterview Connection.

"We can start to move away from this now," he said of that paper-based system.

Every one of those documents could be stored electronically, making the system work far faster and better, he said. He wanted everyone to have access to his courts "in the interests of fairness".

"The power we have over people's lives and endeavours is considerable and needs to be exercised on a careful and humble basis," he said.

"Visitors to our registries and chambers are flabbergasted at the quantities of paper that confront them."

But in going digital, it was important to avoid eliminating parties without computer or email access or with low electronic skill levels. Some cases would still operate with a degree of paper, he said.

Environment Court

* Sits permanently in Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch.
* Sits in many other parts as case work demands.
* Nine judges, 12 fulltime commissioners, five part-time.
* Big new online and iPad digital initiative under way.